A: What we know about trans-related (i.e.,
transgender, transsexual, intersex) topics has grown significantly over recent
years. However, individuals who identify as being neither “male” nor “female”
or of being something entirely different, a third gender if you will, is a
human reality depicted in our earliest writings and artworks. Before getting to
the answer, I feel it’s necessary to provide a brief historical background of
indigenous American Two-Spirit people.

Throughout
North and South America, many of the native population’s creation myths

appear to have
led to the establishment of egalitarian gender roles within their societies.

Where western
ideologies, based primarily on Christianity, emphasized a singular male

god, most
indigenous North and South American cultures emphasized the importance of both
male and female deities. Under the moral authority of western religion, women
were considered inferior, whereas with most Native American cultures women were
viewed as equals to men (Bonvillain, 1989; Picchi, 2003; Tannahil, 1982).

In Eskimo
culture the most powerful deity was called Sedna. She was responsible for

ensuring the
survival of the Eskimo people through the yearly creation of the sea-life on
which they depended. Navajo people stressed the importance of women’s
fertility, and of the spiritual bond between mother and child. Many Navajo
mythical stories involve

mother
figures, such as the “Changing Woman,” who came when early humans lost their

ability to
reproduce. She mated with the Sun, producing twins, who eventually gave birth

to all Navajo
clans. Among the Iroquois, symbolism of female fertility and power was

also expressed
through their creation myths. According to Iroquois legend the female

figure,
“Aataensic,” was responsible for creating all life and is honored for being the

caretaker of
human souls (Bonvillain, 1989).

Although some
Native American religions talk of great female deities responsible for

giving and
sustaining life, many stress that the great spiritual beings were neither male

nor female,
but a combination of both (Powers, 2000; Williams, 1983). This way of thinking about gender has
been documented in over 155 American Indian tribes that revered the
Two-Spirits. Within the two-spirited person, the creators are said to have
instilled the spirit of both man and woman, creating a third gender, who act as
intermediaries between the polarities of male and female. The Two-Spirits were
said to have been created for the purpose of improving society through their
creative ingenuity, their spiritual power, and their ability to act as
go-betweens for addressing relationship issues between men and women (Williams,
1983).

There were
many tales of women engaged in tribal warfare and who married other women, as
there were men who married other men.
Such individuals were often viewed as a third and fourth gender, and in
almost all cultures they were honored and revered. Two-spirit people were often
the healers, the visionaries, the medicine people, the care-givers and the
nannies of orphans. They were respected as fundamental components of their
cultures and societies (Roscoe, 1988).

Around the 16th century, the egalitarianism of most
Native American peoples would

come under
attack with the arrival of foreigners upon their shores. The European

emphasis on
Christianity and male dominance would permanently alter the lives of most

indigenous
Americans. When the Spanish explorers arrived in South America they

quickly began
to push their agenda of male supremacy and sexual oppression, which had

a disastrous
effect on the status of South American women (Picchi, 2003; Powers, 2000;

Tannahil, 1982).

Under the
Spanish colonial regime, women would become stripped of their autonomy,

and the
gender-parallelism that governed the Inca society would be left in ruins. The

Spanish, being
a patriarchal war-like society, was built upon a foundation of Christian

evangelicalism.
The Spanish soldiers and missionaries would not tolerate women

holding power
economically, politically and/or religiously. As a result, women began to

lose their
status on all levels. Their matrilineal access to resources was obliterated,
being

replaced by male-centered
organizations. Although women did put up resistance, and

used whatever
means were at their disposal, over time the Inca men would come to internalize
the male-centered ideologies of their conquerors, which led to a pervasive

atmosphere of
male-superiority (Powers, 2000).

On the
continents of North and South America, the constant stream of incoming
colonizers would also significantly alter the gender roles of the indigenous
populations. Christian missionaries, like those in South America, preached of
strict gender roles and the

subjugation of
women. Within this atmosphere of sexual suppression there was no place

for the
Two-Spirits, who through western eyes were nothing more than sinful sodomites

(Williams,
1986). Two-spirited people were
viewed as an abomination, which was just the kind of justification the
colonizers used when ordering the torture and killing of two-spirited
people. In fact, all expressions
of gender variance were oppressively

squelched.

Just as with
the invasion of South America, the patriarchal ideologies of North

American
colonizers persistently eroded the status of Native American women. Male

dominance was
preached and even forced upon the indigenous peoples through

resulted in
Native American rejection of cross-gender roles (i.e. a third
gender/two-spirited), and the adoption of the male-centered ideologies of the
colonists. Over time, as western colonization spread, the traditional gender-allocated
system of reciprocal labor would be replaced by a market in which the demand
for male-labor dominated. So not only was the spiritual role of women
depreciated through the emphasis of a supreme male God, but women’s means of
contributing equally to their people’s livelihood was also stripped away
(Bonvillain, 1989; Williams, 1986).

Now that you
know a little about the history of Native American two-spirited people, let’s
examine the definition of transgender.
The word “transgender” means different things depending on whom you
ask. At its most basic level,
“transgender” is a word that applies to anyone who doesn’t fit within society’s
standards of how a man or a woman is expected to look or act. The term “transgender” may be used to
describe an individual assigned the sex of female at birth, but later in life
realizes that label doesn’t exactly reflect who they feel they are inside. Such an individual may now live their
life as a man, or they may feel that their gender identity cannot be accurately
summed up by either of the two strictly defined gender options available (male
or female). They may feel like
they’re in between those two options (both male and female), or that they’re
outside of the dichotomous two-gender system. In other words, they may neither feel male nor female, but
something completely different.

So, back to the
question. Is being transgender and being two-spirited the same thing? I’d have to say yes, being two-spirited
is one form of being transgender.
Transgender people have been with us from the beginning, and will be
until the end, regardless of the mechanisms of social oppression aimed at
enforcing the dichotomized, heterosexist, homophobic and sexist gender
ideologies pushed upon us through educational, political, and religious
institutions. Now you know:)

References

Bonvillain, N.
(1989). Gender relations in native North America. American Indian